My Journey into the digital world

13 Jul 2009

I have had a fascination with cameras since my Brownie camera that my parents gave to me when I was young. Through the years since I married, we always had a camera although it only came out for special occasions. Film and developing were not in our weekly budget and had to be reserved for those special occasions.

My precious is my Nikon D70s digital camera. I wanted it because of the interchangeable lenses that I had from my Nikon 6006 film camera and the improved functions of a newer camera. At the time that I bought it I did not understand aperture and shutter speeds and I was told that I could use it on the automatic setting forever and get good photos. While this is true, and I did use automatic, I was taking mediocre photos that I thought were pretty darn good, at that time. When I bought a new computer I downloaded some of my photos on the computer. With my new computer, I signed up for One to One lessons to learn the computer better. My first One to One instructor was also a professional photographer. He saw my photos and told me to bring my camera to our next session as they also help with digital cameras in the lessons. I began to learn about aperture and shutter speeds and how to use a photo editor to adjust color and lighting on my photos, how to crop out unneeded parts of the photo. I now saw my camera in a different way. It became a passion to learn more and more. My cousin told me about JPG so I looked at her site and sites of others and I fell in love with being able to see so many great photos and to comment on them and meet new friends. I registered for JPG to get my own site. Through JPG I began a wonderful journey of learning so much more than just camera functions. I was seeing how to take better photos. I began using my D70s daily instead of off and on and started taking photos to enter in the challenges and themes. I love my D70s, the way that it feels, the way that it sounds when I fire it. I love the quality of the photos that can be taken with this camera, it is awesome. I began to buy accessories, a speed light, other lenses including a macro, a good zoom and a good wide angle, filters, and a bigger rolling camera bag was now needed and purchased. When the 1/365 theme came along I purchased a remote release to begin taking my daily self portraits. My husband gave me a good tripod at Christmas to help with my photography. Through a JPG member that I now consider as a friend, I was learning more about settings and taking night photos. He showed me on some of my photos the benefit of having Photoshop. I now have Photoshop Elements on my computer and I am learning how to use it through my One to One lessons. My newest addition to my photography equipment is the Nikon COOLPIX P90 camera. This is a great camera with many wonderful new features. The zoom on it is awesome, you just have to see it to believe it. This camera will not replace my D70s, it will be an important accessory to my camera gear. The 1/365 theme has helped me tremendously to learn more about my camera, how to take better photos and how to smile for the camera : ). I always felt uncomfortable in front of the camera and my smiles were stiff before I began to learn to smile "on demand" while taking my self portraits.

I can say with absolute certainty that my D70s is my most precious item in my photo equipment. It brings me happiness and has improved my world by broadening it through contact with people around the world that are JPG members, making new friends, and in the process I have discovered how to really see the world better, through my camera lens. I have discovered quite a bit about myself that I did not know was there.

An excellent essay even if it is about a Nikon. LOL!! Just kidding! This is a great story and your images are fantastic. I am so glad to be one of the people you have met on JPG and am so glad to be one of your friends. Keep writing and shooting Ann.

Love your well written photo essay, plus your photos are super! I too consider you as a true blue friend and enjoy chatting with you through our correspondence! I would vote for this but I can't find the voting box.

Excellent story Ann, beautifully written. I too had the same problems understanding aperture, iso, shutter speeds settings etc and I'm still learning. Like our beautiful peers in JPG we are so close, it is a community with a common link called "Passion for Photography". Im proud to know you Ann, I only wish I wasn't on the other side of the world, I would love to meet up with and so many of our caring friends.

I love your enthusiasm ...it is inspiring to see the Seniors members like you, in our age group who are actively involved with photography ..You are doing an excellent job and I admire your determination as you move ahead.